As prescribed by 159th_Archer on the old
www.the159th.com:
In the interests of actually getting all SW AC recovered without running out of fuel, I conducted a quick test.
A 25t was set-up on AP at different alts and speeds, and over a 200km straight course. No load, and fuel load 1510kg.
Altitude - Airspeed - Throttle setting - Fuel remainingT1. 300m - 500 - 75% - 650kg
T2. 300m - 890 - 90% - 500kg
T3. 2000m - 500 - 76% - 740kg
T4. 2000m - 790 - 90% - 630kg
T5. 4000m - 400 - 82% - 810kg
T6. 4000m - 500 - 84% - 890kg
T7. 4000m - 660 - 90% - 800kg
LOADED (16650kg AUW)
T8. 4000m - 400 - 92% - 580kg
T9. 4000m - 470 - 95% - 620kg
LOADED (19500kg AUW)
T10. 1000m - 540 - 90% - 390kg
Sorry if the table is not as clear as it might be (and I might have made the odd entry error), but the lesson is pretty clear -and obvious...- height saves fuel as does lower (though NOT slowest) speed. Not dragging an over-loaded AC around is also good. Seems the developers did pretty well, here.
T6 is interesting, as at the mid throttle setting it was found fuel ecnomy was better than both the lower/higher settings.